Sergio Perez topped the times for Red Bull ahead of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc in Friday's opening free practice at this weekend's Sao Paulo Grand Prix.The Mexican clocked a best lap of one minute and 11.853 seconds to outpace his Monegasque rival by 0.004 seconds in a at Interlagos, where the weekend includes a sprint race on Saturday.Two-time world champion Max Verstappen was third in his Red Bull ahead of Carlos Sainz in the second Ferrari, seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton and his Mercedes team-mate George Russell.The top six were separated by only two-tenths of a second.Only 0.008 separates the top three in FP1! ????Qualifying is next! ??#BrazilGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/QBWoUOJKZBFlurry of activityFour-time champion Sebastian Vettel, in his penultimate Grand Prix before retiring, was seventh for Aston Martin ahead of fellow-German and protg Mick Schumacher, who is fighting to keep his seat with Haas next year.Valtteri Bottas was ninth for Alfa Romeo and Pierre Gasly 10th for Alpha Tauri in a frantic one hour's action as the teams worked intensively to find a set-up for their cars ahead of qualifying later Friday.On a warm day with an air temperature of 24 degrees Celsius, and the track at 46 degrees, the session began with a flurry of cars on track seeking to take advantage of the only session before qualifying.Esteban Ocon was the initial pace-setter ahead of the newly-moustachioed Valtteri Bottas.
Verstappen was soon in action and ran off at Turn Four, the scene of his controversial defensive move against Hamilton last year, taking to the run-off area to recover.Almost immediately, Perez went top before the world champion, on his next lap, took command, Bottas splitting the two Red Bulls with some aplomb.